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Incumbents prevail when Southington voters hit the polls

LINDSAY CAREY
STAFF WRITER
Southington residents took to the polls on Election Day and the majority voted in support of the incumbents on the ballot.
Incumbent Democrat John Larson defeated Republican candidate Matthew Corey in the First Congressional District race. Larson, who will be serving for his ninth term, received 8,008 votes from Southington voters while Corey received 7,568 votes.
Republican State Senator Joe Markley will serve another term for the 16th District. The majority of Southington voters opted for Markley who received 10,771 votes. Democrat Christopher Roberston, who decided to run for office in August, brought in 2,826 votes.
Another incumbent to hold his position is Democrat David Zoni, who won in the race for his second term as state representative for the 81st Assembly District with 4,442 votes. Zoni was opposed by Republican Albert Natelli, who received 3,941 votes.
“It’s a long campaign you never really know where you stand, because at my level we don’t do polls,” said Zoni about the election.
For this reason, he said he remained hard at work throughout his campaign to reach out to voters door to door.
“I feel that a lot of people know me because I am very engaged in the community and belong to a lot of organizations,” said Zoni. “They see me out and about in the community, so they feel comfortable approaching me.”
He also said he felt it necessary to keep all of his campaign mail positive and he feels voters appreciated that.
“Some people may think negative campaigning works and maybe it does, but I won’t do it,” said Zoni, who also felt that as the incumbent he had a good record to run on. “I’m grateful for the people of Southington for supporting me.”
Republican State Rep. for the 80th Assembly District Rob Sampson was also able to secure his position representing Southington and Wolcott. Sampson received 1540 votes in Southington, defeating Democrat John “Corky” Mazurek, who collected 946 votes.
Southington voters supported State Rep. Alfred Adinolfi to continue to represent Southington and Wallingford for the 103rd District. Adinolfi was challenged by Democrat Kristin Selleck, who received 671, while Adinolfi received 798.
State representative for the 30th Assembly District Joe Aresimowicz ran unopposed to represent Berlin and Southington for his sixth term. He received 2,478 votes in Southington.
“Being unopposed is very reflective of my ongoing work for the district,” said Aresimowicz. “I think my constituents know that I do what’s best for the district and that’s something I’ve done throughout my legislative career.”
In his opinion, being available to his constituents through telephone calls, emails, and going door to door has been the key to having their support.
“I support initiatives that I hear directly from constituents,” he said.
Aresimowicz also was re-elected as the majority leader of the Connecticut House of Representatives by the Democratic caucus.
“I think it’s really a great honor anytime your colleagues vote you to be in the leadership position,” said Aresimowicz.
He will once again take on the dual role of listening to the concerns of constituents from the 30th district and also helping other representatives form legislation for their districts.
Four referendum questions, which were shared on the town’s website a couple weeks ago along with background information, also appeared on the ballot.
The first question was a statewide question, which asked if the state should remove restrictions regarding absentee ballots. This would allow for people to vote without attending a designated polling place on Election Day. Southington voters were not in support of removing absentee ballot restrictions as 9,516 vote “no” and 6,276 voted “yes.”
The second question on the ballot was for authorization for the Town of Southington to spend $5,200,000 on sludge thickening and odor control at the Southington Water Pollution Control Facility. This issue has been a prime topic of discussion in town, as several odor complaints started to come in last month. Southington voters supported the initiative to improve the facility as it received 8,762 yes votes.
Since it was approved by voter, the Town Council unanimously voted to take action on sludge thickening and odor control at the Southington Water Pollution Control Facility.
Despite the majority of Southington voters responding in support of the second question, another sewage issue did not receive the same support. The third question on the ballot asked whether the town should spend $2,640,000 for sanitary sewer improvements on Welch Road. The question was shot down by voters, who responded with 8,590 “no” votes and 6,978 “yes” votes.
The last question was one that results revealed had the most support, which was to spend $11,000,000 to finance various road and bridge improvements. This question received 11,040 votes in support of the roadwork and 4,759 opposed.